Show new new kew york tort herald t the mesquite tree and its gnew gum I 1 york yoke dec 20 1854 1554 GENTLEMEN tour your note or of the tha th dinst in which you yen request information concerning tha the mesquita tre sand j its gum gums was duly received and I 1 with M ith basure a av ail all ini iny my seif self of the first delaura moment to reply to your I 1 ga the tree commonly known in this country as the met quite was first t discovered by dr edwin james former y assistant surgeon in the united states army while attached cached to col longs exploring expedition to the ahe nock bock bocky T mountains thirty six years ago aso it Is 1 a variety ot of th the acacia which Is found se abundantly in india 1 l other parts carts of the east and possesses many prO properties DerNs in I 1 fi common with other species ot of that group ot of plants M olat hat the exact geographical range ot of this tree tre erl eyl Is wp ws are as yet unable with a great portion ot of our territory urk unexplored to define defines my own observations however warrant me in la asserting confidently that it Is only indge balge to the great plains of the west and south ednd tag tas far beyond the limits of most other varieties 0 ot trees and it would seem from its locality to have been planted anted by an all wise providence with special pedal reference to HM tha I 1 wants ot of the occupants of a section ot of country suited uit d to 1 the growth ot of no other tree 14 do 14 1 between the twenty sixth and thirty sixt sixth ot of north latitude within the ninety seventh sev set anth and one hundred and third merld meridians lans fans ot of it Is I 1 found 6 evry avry where often constituting vast ast tracts vt of woodland wood jand antl anil 1 1 I indeed almost the only sylva biva ot of the section it Is ado aho ah al o 0 found in very eny ery many places between bean een the rocky mountain range and the pacific ocean but it appears to nourish tio at better and to obtain greater dimensions in the 1 of th the gila river than in any other othen locality I 1 have baie lear hear I 1 t I 1 of the rio del norte t in going north from the parallel ot of thirty three degre degreck cc in the direction I 1 have traveled the trees bradu I 1 come smaller and smaller until at iasi last th her hey r a ae r p T pm a bushe and tin fin allyson arriving ardnt arrit ing near the latitude 7 six bix degrees they entirely disappear t jwj the vast ast geographical rang rans of the me q i 2 bv I 1 ering as it does an area of m more ore than suar shua miles and its many useful pro properties pertle pertie 6 FJ be enumerated in the sequel sequels renders it ara ava liable ane have no doubt it Is destined to become halaly lm to the future occupants of a large sect lWI 41 wona X citory it Is a tree of short scrubby growth tah stack stock areray ing from four to fifteen inches in diameter dia dla meter mettr ind and attaining a height including its top kopy of mor more than tw wen feet the limbs are short crooked and thickly fetu fetn lda tda with lons ions sharp thorns the leaves and the cleaf lear lets are long iong and elliptical the bark a dark gray if rt sem bild blid that of the peach tree the wood coarse braill grained edy very veny ery eny brit brittie brittle tiey and the heart which constitutes meart bearty heare the entire tree trees somewhat like the darker varieties varlet lesof lesot cf ms bogany S f 1 it burns bums readily even when green with a bright cheerful flame leaving a residue of coals almost as perfect ll 11 in form as the original wood woody making mating i a very hit hot bit fire bind dind anda indeed the best fuel I 1 have hive ever seen hickory no ted it possesses durability din ability in an eminent degree and hl ils n consequence much used for tor building and fencing 0 1 southern texas and mexico As an evidence oi of its jast yat inz ins qualities I 1 have seen pieces of the wood in a porfe perfect perrett I 1 t state of preservation preservations embedded in the stones kones of an TO d ruin upon the niver river in texas which must musi ha havi been exposed to the weather for scores of years as mant of the stones had bad become disintegrated and clumb crumbled ai away with age while the wood remained sound 11 the mesquite Is often found upon very elevated and arid 0 par parl iries rles far from water cours courses esy but will I 1 believe believes only grow upon soil soll of the first quality and so well weil Is the fact tact established that the mesquite groves or flats as they are called are sought after alter in western texas as the most desirable spots for tor cultivation and they have thus far tar proved probed exceedingly productive the trees stand at wide intervals upon ground covered with a dense carpet of verdure and a strangers stranger on approaching pro aching tn one ot of the groves cannot resist the impression that he has a peach orchard before him so striking Is the resemblance the blossoms put forth in june juries and a fruit appears in the form of a long slender bean from which the mexicans mexia a s make mate a cooling and pleasant beverage these beans ripen in september when they tall fall to the ground and afford sustenance to wild lones lores deery decry deer antelope ante lopa and turkeys the pod Is highly saccharine and nutritious and alid Is used for food by the tho natives of the plains as well as those west of the rocky mountains the indians upon the colorado and gila rivers pulver pulverise pulverize pul verise lse ise and press them into cakes which are said to be very palatable they make most excellent forage tor for horses horsa and mules and there are many instances where they have sustained those of the california emigrants from perishing upon some of those long and tiresome jornadal Jor nadas or sandy and barren deserts towards the pacific A tree very similar to the mesquite ey called the I 1 carob trees tree Is found in the south of spain it affords a bean like the mesquite te which Is imported under the name of the Alqua bean it Is made use of for food in spain and Is there called st johng johns bread it was this bean that often constituted the only forage sf of the english cavalry horses during the war of 1811 and 12 the species of acacia from which the gum arable of commerce Is obtained the acacia vera Is a hard withered lookin glow tree with a crooked stem and geay gray bark baric very iollar lar in external appearance ta to the mesquite the gum of the mesquite exudes from the tb e trunk and branches wherever there la is an abrasion in the bark it 19 1 s also produced when a cut Is made with ith a sharp instrument in the same manner as the sap Is drawn from the sugar maple it commences exuding in july and continues until the last of september it Is at first in a semi trans parent and nearly fluid state but so soon 0 n hardens by exposure to the tha sun and air and it if theto Is no rain and there Is seldom any at this season beason it forms upon the bark in globules glo bules as large as a hens exi ezi egi egg and can be collected in large quantities and I 1 have ha e no doubt it will eventually become an important article ot of commerce answering all the purposes of the gum gunt arable of the shops specimens of ot the gum which I 1 collected last aum sum gummer summer mr we were submitted to dr joh job john torrey who has return returned e d to me the following remarks upon the subject which coming from so distinguished a source will be read with interest the collection of plants made by dr james in his ei ex to the rocky mountains was submitted to me for examination an account of which with descriptions of I 1 all tide the new species that it contained I 1 published in the annais annals of the sew new york lyceum of natural history in iet 1927 vol 2 pp ap the I 1 was found round to be a new hew new species ol 01 the genus of linnaeus to which I 1 gave t he name of P and a figure of the plant accompanied d the description the eminent botanist I 1 anist mr 11 bentham who has made mada a special study ot of the considers the section alga robla of AS asa a distinct genus his views were adopted in the fiora flora of korth north america by dr gray and myself so that the plant Is ghere phere here described as calga alga robla giand gland alosa torr and gray 11 no amer amery 1 11 pp ap twelve or more other species are natives ot of mexico and the western coast of south 1 america Amr lea tea all ot of them bear a iong long compressed pod which Is filled with a sweet pulp the mesquite pods were used as food by major longs part party they cont itne also a most valuable fodder for animals for chor several years I 1 have known that a gum allied to gum guny arable exuded from the trees especially where they were wounds woun dd specimens of the gum were long ago brought to me by different trave travelers lersy from froni new mexico and western texas but I 1 never examined the substance particularly till I 1 received a supply ol 01 it a few days ago at your request I 1 submitted it to examination and compared it with the well known gum arable the mesquite oi 01 algar bla gum Is 13 intermediate in appearance aice between tle tige darker kinds of gum arable and cherrytree gum portions ot of it however howe hove very verp are ars almost colorless colori coI col orless ess esi and have the roughish rought sh surface and cracked structure that belong to the better kinds of gum arable the portion that yon you sent me was probably not gathered with particular care for some of it has particles of bark attached to the lumps or disseminated through them on con testing the solubility of the gum in cold watery ater it dl solved as readily as gum arable and the mucilage lagey lages though of a brownish tints tint was destitute of bitterness or other unpleasant flavors flavor and it itis ills Is strongly adhesive when the solution Is poured into a shallow vessel and left to spontaneous evaporation it leaves the gum in transparent brilliant plates having all the inequalities f the original aun ann gum nun if elf the gum cannot be gathered without a small portion of dirt being entangled in it the best pein uhan woold would be to dissolve dissolve it in water and let the dirt subside I 1 or separate it by strafing the mucilage ml might bt then be dried the thin plater plates of gum sun bleached in the tre suny suns sun ind nd aft afterwards i e pulverized you tou you tou are perhaps aware that the trees affording the kim gim pun gun and anil fum yum arabie arable belong to the same natural nl group of plants so it Is not remarkable remark able abie that tiia tila t they so strongly tron gly git resemble each other t I 1 s B R B MARCY mancy captain IT S A rushton co new york |